When he came to he felt remarkably good. Which was odd, considering ... He'd
really pissed the little bitch off, to the point that she'd lost her temper and
nearly killed him. The pain had been exquisite, though, that is, until he'd
blacked out.

Evidently, reason had prevailed. But he was sure that this time the little
she-devil had left some marks.

Ni tried to get up but found his body straining against invisible bonds. He
glanced up to the right and left; his arms were outstretched above his head,
his wrists each snuggled against a slender bedpost. This wasn't the bed he'd
passed out in, he realized, it was far nicer. He was torn between
appreciation--Gyokumen Koushu certainly was more creative than he'd
allowed--tempered with apprehension (Ni Jianyi was not afraid);
apparently his Lady was not through with him just yet. He knew he should be
worried, the harpy could easily crush him like a bug, but then she'd never get
her precious ox-lover back. Not that Ni had any plans to see that fable to
fruition. He'd be just a distant memory by the time she and her darling stepson
figured out it had just been a grand ruse.

But then a horrifying thought flashed in his mind. She found the sutra!
and what could only be described as pure terror shot through his heart. He
gasped out loud.

"It's about time you woke up, sunshine." Ni raised his eyes to
directly above him, toward the direction of the sultry voice, which he noted
was a far more pleasant one than Gyomaoh's concubine. What could only be
described as an incredibly handsome woman stared down at him. Or rather, stared
down at him from between her two firm, perfectly-shaped, well-endowed breasts.

"I would have awakened sooner if I knew it would be to this vision."
He flashed a lecherous smile. "My Lady's choice in henchmen or should I
say, henchwomen, has improved immeasurably."

Melodious laughter filled the room and he watched those breasts quiver
enticingly beneath the diaphanous material that flowed about his captress's
body. He'd never look at the filmy curtains that hung from the windows of
Houtou Castle in the same manner again.

"Such a silly little man," she chuckled. "You amuse me so that
I'm not even insulted that you don't recognize me, Sanzo Ukoku."

Despite the shock of this woman knowing his past identity, Ni managed to cover
with his best poker face. Instead he focused on the alluring way her long,
silky black ringlets cascaded over her breasts and shimmered with each syllable
of her laughter.

"Well, you know how it is, cupcake, the faces just blend together after a
while." He feigned boredom. "Though I'm sure I would have remembered
such a lovely ..." his eyes raked over the body--a ten by any scale--that
stood above his head before he continued, "one as yours if I'd seen it
around this dreary castle."

"You're a little slow on the uptake, aren't you, precious?" she
snorted. "I don't answer to anyone, especially not that cheap piece of
ass." She brought her face closer to his. "Perhaps that little
blister actually damaged your brain," she mused, her raven locks tickling
over his skin. He tipped his chin to his chest and saw that he was naked. And
aroused. Scratch that, very aroused. His dick stood at proud attention despite
his precarious predicament.

It had to be the heady fragrance she was wearing. It was downright
intoxicating. He needed to get hold of some of that! Oh, the havoc he could
wreak with such a powerful aphrodisiac! It was then that he noticed the chakra.

"I can assure you, everything's in working order ... Milady," he
hesitated, not having a better name to call her.

An even row of bright white teeth beamed down at him. "Kanzeon Bosatsu,
Kannon, the Merciful Goddess, Guan Yin ... take your pick, sweetheart, just
don't take my name in vain." Her hand caressed lightly over the stubble of
his chin, and Ni tugged at his bonds again, the hair on the back of his neck
standing on end when they still held fast. Such brilliant magic! He gazed back
up into her fathomless dark eyes, taking small comfort that he was still
unscathed, but also having the distinct feeling that he was being toyed with
like a hapless mouse that stumbled upon a cat. Well, if this was some kind of a
game, he wasn't going to let her see him sweat. He'd learned early on in his
travels the best defense was a balls-out offense. He had the balls part
already.

"You must think I'm pretty powerful, to have to tie me up," he
drawled, tugging against the bindings once again for good measure. "Afraid
of me, yeah?"

"No, not really." Kanzeon straightened and her hands fluttered over
him. "That was just for kicks."

Ni narrowed his eyes, angry at her flippancy. "So now that you have me at
your disposal, my Goddess, what do you intend to do with me?" Her
hand stroked down the center of his chest, a warm radiance bloomed outward from
the skin that she touched.

"Unfortunately for you, my little pet, I'm just here to talk."
Kanzeon came around to sit on the edge of the bed. He couldn't help but stare
at her ample bosom. He imagined his face pressed between the firm flesh, his
tongue circling a taut aureole upon a supple mound. He swallowed hard and his
cock twitched. She quirked a brow at his body's reaction and winked.
"Although you never know, you could get lucky."

A hushed groan escaped his lips as he thought about how it would feel if she
straddled him, his hard cock sliding into her hot, wet pussy.

"Fat chance of that, honey!" she retorted.

"I'm told that I have quite the tongue, a natural gift as it were,"
he retorted sharply, his expression turning lecherous. "If you don't
believe the hype, you could sit on my face, and see for yourself." he
added lecherously.

"You know, darling, you're really slumming it, wasting your talents
working on that bovine's revival. And if it succeeds, what next? What would
your mentor think of you then? You remember him, the great Koumyou Sanzo?"
An image of Koumyou's smiling visage peered down at Ni, braid swinging off of
his shoulder, the soft ponytail end tickling Ni's face. The smell of the
sandalwood-scented shampoo the blond houshi favored wafted in his nostrils.

"Oh, that's right! That little problem's been solved. Bet'cha never saw
that coming--he actually cared enough about the little brat to die for
him!" She giggled, covering her mouth. "There's this old adage I once
heard, 'cut your nose to spite your face'." He saw Koumyou then, as
Kouryuu must have, dead eyes open, blood flecks on his face, white linen robes
soaked red.

"No fair," he gasped, as memories of long, lean arms and legs
intertwined, of moonlit evenings saturated with their lovemaking, flooded his
mind.

Kanzeon smiled and, ignoring his labored response, went on. "Now, I can
see you don't really go for something as prosaic as job security, so let me
appeal to your sense of practicality. Did you think they'd pulled a fast one?
That the Gods don't know about that silly little youkai's grand scheme? Let me
let you in on a little secret. They just don't give a rat's ass, because
Gyokumen Koushi and her little lap-dog Kougaiji aren't going to prevail."

"Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah." He really needed a cigarette.
"This conversation is boring, even for a God," he countered, not very
witty by any account. He set his jaw stubbornly.

"Oh come now, did you really think you could take on my nephew and
win?"

"Your nephew?" he echoed, a note of incredulity tingeing his
question. The conversation had become interesting again. He pondered the
statement for a moment. "Now that's rich," he murmured, barking a
short laugh. He should have known Koumyou would never have made a wager without
some inside line. All at once Ni was filled with a loneliness that he was
usually able to ignore; he'd dammed that emotion up years ago. But at
that moment he missed Koumyou as intensely as he had the first time he'd
returned to Kinzan ... after. A soft sigh hissed through his parted lips as the
memory of that utter desolation descended upon his shoulders. It wasn't
supposed to have ended that way.

Theirs had been a strange relationship to say the least, but Koumyou had been
such an odd man, untouchable, above the fray, and yet ... the blond monk had
certainly soiled himself rolling in the mud with him on more than a few
occasions. Talk about slumming it. He'd never felt deserving of Koumyou's
attention, no matter how much he craved it.

"So you see my point then, darling?"

His earlier mood of relief had soured considerably. "You know, sometimes I
wish she'd just kill me. If you think I'm grateful for being rescued, you've
got another thing coming."

Kanzeon only laughed. "If I expected gratitude, I would have quit this
game long ago. Though, for someone who wants to die, you've proven quite
resilient. I suggest you aren't trying hard enough."

"To the contrary, perhaps I've just been underestimated. It's been a theme
in my life."

"I'll give you that," Kanzeon agreed.

Ni suddenly found his wrists released. He pulled up into a sitting position and
leaned against the low headboard absently rubbing the feeling back into his
arms, his knees brought up to his chest. He felt vaguely empty. From his new
vantage point he glanced around the room. It was minimally appointed with
simple cherry-wood furniture, the walls were painted a soft moss green. The bed
he'd been lying on was covered in a silk comforter with a heron motif on a dark
blue ground. Opposite the bed were shoji doors that were open to the courtyard,
it was a dazzling sunny day outside; sakura petals floated on a light breeze.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"Can't you tell? You've died and gone to Heaven."

He arched a brow.

"Just kidding, darling, about the dead part, that is." Kanzeon looked
him up and down in a way that made his cock twitch and his nipples harden.
"You're very much alive," she chuckled. She brought her hand up and
slid her index finger along his jaw line.

"So I'm a prisoner, then? A pawn at the whims of the Gods?" he asked,
his voice laden with rancor. He'd never believed in all that religious
bullshit, it had been just another academic exercise for him in the search for
his Mount Everest; much like all the coursework he'd done for his PhD, though
that had proven far more useful. Now as he cast a jaundiced eye on the Goddess,
he realized that it had been folly for him to actually believe he'd ever had
free will.

Koumyou had been much kinder in his appraisal. He'd told Ukoku he was just
being na´ve.

"Aren't we all?" He looked up with a start, expecting to see Kanzeon
mocking him, but instead he was drawn into the depths of her violet eyes. Ni's
own hardened. She was still toying with him and he didn't like it one bit. The
game had lost its appeal, now that he understood the real score.

"Heaven must be a boring place if you Gods have nothing better to do than
to meddle in human affairs," he grit out. "So what now, I swear to
you that I'm no longer going to help Gyokumen and you'll send me off on my
merry way?"

Kanzeon drew her face closer to his; he felt her heavy bosom brush against his
skin.

"But we were having so much fun, hunny-bunny," she drawled, her mouth
quirking with a smile. Delicate fingers traced over his toned chest, her
fingernail scraping over the puckered flesh of one nipple. "Where's your
fighting spirit?"

He breathed in sharply from the sensation and from her latest term of
endearment. Perhaps he'd read the Goddess all wrong; he was certain now she
knew more than she let on.

"You hit the nail on the head, first try. I was bored, darling, and now
I'm going to fuck you through the mattress, unless, of course, you'd rather
take your chances with that pissed-off mistress of yours. But fair warning, she
hasn't cooled off just yet."

He was treated to another vision, Gyokumen, spattered in blood--his
blood--standing over his prone form. NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! she
screamed, slashing at his inert body. He winced--that had to hurt.

"I think you may want to give her a little more time to collect herself,
cowboy."

"Well playing your whore can't be any worse than being hers."

Kanzeon shifted on the bed. "Now I am insulted. If I'd wanted to
force myself on you, I would have kept you tied up. I thought you'd be up for a
challenge." Her hand slid down the smooth planes of Ni's stomach and he
took a shaky breath when the pads of Kanzeon's fingers ghosted over his
erection. His eyes fluttered closed and his head tipped back, lolling on his
shoulders, before bumping onto the headboard.

A firm hand grasped his length and a low moan escaped his lips when she
squeezed and pumped along his length. "When you put it that way ... how
could I refuse?" he panted as he slipped down into a full recline.

The hand-job Kanzeon gave him was exquisite; his entire body shuddered when she
thumbed over his crown, squeezing pearly drops of pre-come from the slit, and
then smeared the milky fluid over the satin-smooth skin in a circular motion.
At some point Ni began to reciprocate, his fingers played over her pointed
nipples through the gauzy material until he'd managed to find a gap in the
flowing garment.

Kanzeon's alabaster skin was as exhilarating to feast on as the fragrance she
wore. She leaned on one hand, and brought her lips against his, plundering his
mouth as he tweaked a hardened nipple between thumb and forefinger, relishing
the heavy globe that moved under his hand. Kanzeon continued to stroke him
expertly, using his essence as a lubricant, and soon Ni found himself on the
verge of coming.

"Slow down, baby," he admonished, "or I'm going to come before I
get inside you."

Kanzeon's reaction--a deep belly laugh--was disconcerting to say the least.
Leaning back, with her free hand she took Ni's hand in hers, dragging it over
her slender waist, over the downy skin of her belly. His fingers curled into
the mound of her pubic hair, and of his own accord he pushed further down, only
to recoil in shock. This time when the top of his head hit the headboard, Ni
saw stars.

He didn't have time to contemplate much more than the realization why Kanzeon
had far more experience getting him off than any other woman he'd ever been
with, because Kanzeon dipped her head and licked over the crown of his aching
cock. He arched into the touch, and as she pulled her lips away breath caressing
over the sensitive flesh, he came hard, striping his abdomen.

"I don't swallow," she stated plainly, shrugging.

Ni basked in the aftermath of an incredible orgasm, his head still spinning
that the beauty reclined next to him, for all of her feminine charms was, to
put it crudely, hung like a horse. And she planned on screwing him.

Kanzeon loosened the belt at her waist and pulled her robe fully open. She
moved until she was on her knees in front of him, and in addition to the
perfect swell of her bosom, he could see her substantial erection jutting from
between her creamy thighs. A vial of an oily substance appeared in her hands
and she poured some of the floral-scented fluid into one hand and placed the
bottle on the low table next to her.

"No," he said flatly, the barest shake to his head.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Kanzeon shot back. "All the
experiments you do in that quaint little lab of yours--reanimations,
reassignments, re-whatevers--and a chick with a dick is blowing your
mind? Get on your hands and knees and take it like a man!" Kanzeon rubbed
her hands together, and then palmed her length to lubricate it.

For a moment Ni looked at her, unmoving, and then a smile curled his thin lips.
"Far be it for me to turn down a lady." He winked at her, his
glistening tongue licking his lips, and then took his time getting into
position. Koumyou had loved to take him that way, and the blond sanzo had
certainly versed Ni well in the merits of 'doggie style.' But Gyokumen had all
but decimated those fond memories with her strap-on dildos.

"I'm ready for my salvation, Goddess," he smirked, glancing
over his shoulder at Kanzeon.

She leaned forward and removed his glasses. "Wouldn't want you to get all
steamed up, now," she remarked cheekily.

He barely had time for a sharp retort; slick, slender fingers prodded his
entrance and then delved past the tight ring of muscles that guarded it. His
back arched as those digits unerringly found his prostate, at the same time
deftly coaxing the muscle loose. He felt her weight shift, the mattress dipped
behind him as she finger-fucked him in lazy strokes. He was loath to cry out
but each sweep against that gland sent shockwaves of pleasure coursing through
his body. His attention focused to the tiny bundle of nerves that was the
source of such fantastic sensations. Then Kanzeon slid her other hand over the
sharp jut of his hip, reaching around to tug firmly on his burgeoning erection.
The dual sensation elicited a string of curses from Ni, ending with a wanton
moan.

"Please," he gasped, immediately annoyed with himself for letting
that hateful word slip. He did not beg!

"What was that?" Her fingers rolled around the protuberance deep
inside his channel, sending tendrils of bliss radiating outward. His body
trembled and his dick pulsed out copious amounts of pre-come. Ni dropped to his
forearms and wiggled his ass like the wanton whore he'd so recently professed
to be.

"Is there something you wanted, loverboy?" Kanzeon lilted. The dual
stimulation stopped and Ni arched his back into her hand and then tilted his
pelvis, trying desperately to recapture that sensation of her fingers embedded
in his ass. They remained tantalizing centimeters away from his pleasure spot
despite his best efforts

"There. gasp Is. pant Can I see him?" He didn't know
what possessed him to ask that favor, except for the unbearable yearning the
visions of his old friend had ignited within him. Kanzeon withdrew her fingers
and moved her hands to curve over the angular planes of his hips. Before he had
a chance to fully comprehend what was happening, she lined up the tip of her
erection and slid into his channel in one swift movement, her hips snapping
against his buttocks. He spilled forward, nearly landing on his face from the
force of her entry; she was deceptively strong!

"Damn, that felt good!" she exclaimed as he recovered and pressed
back against her. She immediately pulled out only to slam in again, her full
weight behind the action. She certainly fucked like a man, he noted.

The rhythm Kanzeon fell into was punishing, and Ni had a feeling if he lost his
footing she wouldn't stop pounding him. As it was, he wasn't certain how much
his body could take. Each thrust into him was an exquisite pain, but Ni
felt himself growing hard again, just the same; he was chasing his second
climax.

He was in danger of passing out, though, even as he felt his orgasm building
low in his belly. White was descending--a filmy curtain--upon his field of
vision, forcing what he could see of the room into shadow. Through the fog he
heard her answer his question with one of her own.

"See who, darling?" Her voice was infuriatingly controlled, and if
he'd had any strength left he would have belted her--woman, goddess, whatever
the hell she was-be damned.

"Koumyou," he managed to whisper; he came hard, his spend soiling the
comforter beneath him. His climax left him feeling empty and he was gripped by
waves of forlornness; he was sure she hadn't heard his request. Instead of
responding, her laughter filled his ears and her tempo changed; she began to
drive into him more slowly, more erratically. Within moments he felt her hot
come coating his passage. His legs could no longer bear his weight; Ni
collapsed to the bed, and as his consciousness slipped away, he heard her
speak, her voice still maddeningly collected, despite the mind-blowing orgasm
she must have had.

"Koumyou Sanzo? But he's not here--" her voice trailed off as
everything faded to black.

* * * * *

Ni awakened with a start, staring up at the all-too-familiar institutional
acoustic ceiling tiles of the Houtou Castle infirmary. He tried to move, but
his body was wracked with pain. The mind-numbing ache served, though, to bring
him to full alertness. He was still alive. He tried to shake the cobwebs from
his brain as memories of Gyokumen and Kanzeon swirled together in his foggy
mind. What the hell had happened?

"I see Sleeping Beauty has awakened." He narrowed his eyes and turned
his head toward the mocking voice, not the one that had last rung in his ears
as he'd slipped away to blissful escaped, not the sultry one he'd recently
awakened to. Dr. Huang, ever-present clipboard crossed in front of her chest,
stared down at him, a pert smile gracing her prim features.

"One of these days, she's going to kill you, you know."

"I didn't know you cared, Dr. Huang," he countered. "Perhaps a
little TLC is in order? Maybe a sponge-bath for the patient?" He flashed
her his trademarked prurient grin.

"Ni! You're incorrigible!" she exclaimed with her usual exasperation.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," he sighed, closing his eyes and
letting his head be cradled by the soft pillow.

... he's not here.

He smiled to himself, feeling inordinately happy. That could only mean one
thing. Somewhere in this world, Koumyou Sanzo had been reborn. Somehow, Ni
decided, life had just become a little less boring.